For-Mar Nature Preserve hosts young biologists from Carman Ainsworth High School

BURTON, MI – Flint-area high school students took on the
role of biologists today at For-Mar Nature Preserve.

Students from Carman Ainsworth high school visited the
For-Mar Nature Preserve Friday, April 20, to take and test water samples from
Kearsley Creek, which flows into the Flint River, to assess its water quality.

The partnership between General Motors, Earth Force and the
Flint River Watershed Coalition gave the students the opportunity to work on
their biology knowledge.

The Global Rivers
Environment Education Network program (GREEN) is run by the national
organization Earth Force and inspires the nation's youth to be active in their
communities and to be knowledgeable about their local watershed issues. General
Motors have been a part of the GREEN program for more than 20 years, said Irene
Bashore, senior environmental engineer for General Motors.

Bashore said General Motors wants to do its part to protect
the environment.

"GM's stance on the environment is that we want to protect
it, we want to make sure it is healthy for our future as well as the community's
future."

"Getting kids this age involved is fantastic because they take this
message with them throughout their life – they bring it home to their parents,
which then teaches their parents about it, and then they teach it to their
future generations as well." Bashore said.

Sarah Satkowiak, 18 of Flint and a senior at Carman
Ainsworth High School, said she became involved in the project through one of
her favorite teachers, Julie Lawrence, said she needed volunteers. Satkowiak
said the work the students are doing helps them to see the bigger environmental
picture.

"They (the students) work for a few weeks before they come
out here and their job is to test the conditions of the water to see if it has
been contaminated and the pH and temperature to make sure everything is
healthy, because the water contributes to everything in the environment."
Satkowiak said.

Julie Lawrence, biology, accelerated biology, and ap biology
teacher at Carman Ainsworth High School, said the students have learned over
the past week how to administer the water sample testing. She said after the
tests are finished, Lawrence and her students will report their findings to the
Flint River Watershed Coalition.

"Getting it from the classroom in the book to how does this
really apply in real life, they learn people actually do these kinds of
positions." Lawrence said. "We talk about how these are real jobs if they are
interested."

Bashore said getting students involved is helping to teach not only this
generation, but generations to come about the cleanliness of the Flint River.

"What is great about having these students come is a lot of
them will say 'the river's dirty, the river's unhealthy,' and then they do
all of this testing and they determine that the overall health of the river is
actually really good," Bashore said. "The river is something we can recreate
in, it's something we can Kayak in, fish in, and eat the fish that are here. It
is an eye opener for them on how healthy the river is."

Each year, more than 1,300 students across Genesee and Lapeer counties
conduct the water sampling tests and analyze the results about their local
waters.

Amanda can be reached at 810-875-2208 or temery@mlive.com. You can also
follow her on Twitter @AmandaEmeryFJ
or on Facebook.